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Opal –Computerization for Agreement Pension Funds
Company Overview
Opal Future Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mivtahim Futures (previously Mivtahim Foundations) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mivtahim Pension Funds. The company was established for the sole purpose of implementing the comprehensive project of establishing information systems and for providing operational services for the eight pension funds in the agreement. Mivtahim, Makefet and K.G.M Pension Funds, which have thousands of active members and pensioners, are also part of the agreement.
Business Challenge
Opal's current information systems handle some 700 users, 4TB of data, 6 million I/O operations per hour and produce some 2,000 reports per years. The systems are linked to thousands of employers, banks and government ministries.
These systems developed through a continuous evolutionary process over the years since the establishment of the Funds in the agreement and over the years the systems have undergone transformations and conversions according to the progress and availability of the computerization technologies. The computer systems are heterogenic and complex and include, among others, platforms such as Unix, AS400, IBM-MF and Win, as well as a range of databases such as DB400, UDB, DB2, SQL, Informix and Oracle and others. As result of the way in which the current systems developed, Opal is currently required to deal with many difficulties, namely:
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Diverse and incompatible computer and operational systems – each of the veteran Funds has its own computer and operation system |
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Outdated and inefficient work procedures |
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Low quality data |
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High operating and computerization costs |
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Insufficient customer service |
The solution
At the beginning of 2006, Malam Group won Opal’s mammoth NIS 100 million tender and challenge. Malam will be responsible for the establishment of the future information systems for the eight Pension Funds in the agreement and for the operation of the model OS unified computer system. The development process is currently at its peak while strictly meeting the work schedule. The overall MF operating services for the Mivtahim Fund are already being provided by Malam. The MF services include hosting of Opal computers at Malam's computer center in Jerusalem, full accountability for hardware infrastructure, operating systems and operation of the application infrastructure systems.
The transfer of the MF computers from Mivtahim’s facility in Ramat Gan to Malam’s facility in Jerusalem was a remarkable extraordinary logistics achievement with down time of less than 24 hours and zero hitches until the MF was operating again. This achievement was made possible because of meticulous planning and synchronization of tasks between the dozens of elements involved in the mission. The planning of the mission in fact took dozens of possible failure scenarios into account, for which appropriate DRP plans were prepared, but were not required.
System Technologies:
The overall solution consists of a central system supporting the organization’s core business and another 10 supplementary satellite systems based on off-the-shelf packages.
The core system architecture is divided into two tiers:
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On the application level – emphasis is placed on explicit separation between the various tiers: the presentation tier is separated from the business logistics tier and from the data tier, providing maximum system flexibility (for example: interchanging between the system’s databases) |
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On the systems level – service oriented architecture is used allowing links between all the organization's applications and systems via an Enterprise Service Bus. This architecture allows transorganizational management, easy linkage of future systems for implementation of business process modifications and reuse of system components (Activity Reuse/Component) |
The system is being developed using EE2J technology suitable for working opposite UDB or Oracle databases. The core system is based on IBM Websphere servers in an UNIX environment, including application server technology that provides all the key components for matters such as growth capacity, information protection, survivability, effective load distribution, flexibility, system reliability, current standard support and adoption of new standards.
The core system and satellite system component integration method make use of advantages taken from business patterns developed recently by IBM for numerous customers worldwide.
The future system, which is currently in development, will replace all the existing systems and will significantly reduce the ongoing operating and maintenance costs. Another objective is to significantly improve the level of service, the quality of the information available to the system users (including members and pensioners of the Funds in the agreement) and the level of transparency at all stages of the working, documentation, supervision and control procedures. The future system will enable unified management and operation for all the Funds in the agreement, based on unified regulations and databases.
The future system will provide a solution for the problems described above and will unify the operating and computer systems of the agreement Funds as well as their working procedures. This will allow effective, reliable and cost-efficient operation and service with overall protection and storage of the information and strict adherence to the regular standards for banking information systems. Furthermore, the future system will also provide the added values of:
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Implementation of state-of-the-art technologies and tools to improve user service, providing the longest possible system durability and implementing guided technology upgrade capacity alongside structured upgrade capacity |
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Implementation and enforcement of work regulations and procedures (uniform for all the agreement Funds) combining decision-making support tools |
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Full support of simple, effective and uniform work procedures for all the agreement Funds |
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Reducing manual work procedures and use of paper by entering all the relevant information into the future system |
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Improving information availability and accessibility |
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Improving and shortening service to members |
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Improving the fixed secure communications with the branches and external elements involved in the various work procedures such as banks (including the Bank of Israel), authorities (including the Ministry of Finance, Income Tax Authority, VAT, National Insurance Institute, Ministry of Interior, Execution Office), computer output printers and others |
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Improve transparency of work procedures, supervision and control |
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Increasing information protection, supervision and control procedures, including the level of infrastructure, source code and adaptation to the requirements of the relevant regulation |
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Optimal enforcement of the relevant legal guidelines, flexibility for regulatory changes and legislation amendments |
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Significant saving of the Funds’ computer operating costs and ongoing management resources for many years |
The unified information system that Malam is developing supports management of all the key pension fund processes and includes integrative modules for the support of employer and member management, collection of dues from employers, management of members’ rights, management of pension payments and redemption of rights, actuary management, loan management, management of documents, CRM, Work Flow management and establishment of internet and intranet sites. The system also interfaces with ERP and investment management systems and more.
Project Challenges
The main challenges are the establishment of the project within a short period (only 18 months) while providing a very flexible system that meets regulatory requirements for frequent implementation of regulatory amendments; a project that includes replacing core organizational systems with a new information system including removal from the MF system; unification and improvement of numerous databases into one unified database; replacing three outsourcing suppliers while efficiently synchronizing establishment and conversion activities with the various outsourcing agreements, and with emphasis on transition processes that include exchanging dozens of information systems on diverse platforms, replacing equipment and importing information from numerous technologies to one uniform technology while updating and adapting the work procedures.
Ron Valichman, Director of Opal’s Projects Division is satisfied with the project’s progress:
“We see Malam continuing as a strategic partner in Opal operations for many years to come. We chose Malam with absolute confidence in its ability to meet the multifaceted challenges we posed to the vendors bidding for the right to establish the future information systems for the agreement Pension Funds.
Our project is complex and problematic with near impossible deadlines. Nonetheless we have faith in Malam’s ability to meet them. Malam’s groundwork for the project met our expectations and the company is well prepared for this difficult undertaking, responding instantly to the frequent changes in the working environment. It is important to understand that this is an extraordinary project in that eight separate information systems based on individual platforms and databases and with different work procedures will be integrated into one sophisticated unified system, which will enable implementation of the veteran pension fund agreement and unite the organization and operation of all eight Funds. According to our plan, all the above changes will be implemented over the next two years.
In addition to the project’s extreme complexity, the mission that Malam has undertaken requires synchronization with other Opal projects for the establishment and integration of a document management system, investment management system, pension payment system, organizational portal and information protection projects, with all the above merging at the end of the project to create the most comprehensive future solution for the funds.
The Malam team headed by Levi Halevi invests much effort in the project and to date the outcome has been to our absolute satisfaction. An example of the successful cooperation between the companies can be seen in the transfer of Opal’s MF site in Ramat Gan to Jerusalem which was a resounding success.
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